Towards the end of the 1st half in today’s Lakers/Thunder matchup, Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest) made a terrific coast-to-coast dunk over Serge Ibaka. But then, amidst the usual celebration, World Peace leveled Thunder G James Harden with an elbow to the side of the head. And in one moment, the rehabilitated, psychiatric patient World Peace morphed back into crazy Ron Artest. However, the best part of the following clip is the Vietnam-style flashback that comes over ABC announcer Mike Breen.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=cCaWfYuCf7U
As Ibaka goes to confront World Peace, the transformation is complete as Artest gets into a fighting stance that makes Mike Breen’s life flash before his eyes. Of course, Breen was there that infamous night when Artest went into the stands in Detroit for Malice at the Palace. And the tone of Breen’s voice when he says “Oh no, Ron Artest squaring off with Serge Ibaka” speaks of someone who has seen Artest enter a zone where only few have been. To top it off, the half-hearted attempts by Van Gundy and Breen to go back to calling Artest “World Peace” are just laughable in light of his intentional elbow. Artest should undoubtedly be suspended for multiple games, but at least Earth Day wasn’t ruined any further by a Palace-style mass riot.
